Men's Grooming Tips And Advice

The men's grooming tips which will make sure you look and feel great. Learn what you need for the complete men's grooming kit and the best hair products, and get the latest reviews of the best fragrances on the market.

If you have fragrances such as aftershave, EDT, EDP and cologne, you’ve probably thought at some point, how long does it last in the bottled once opened, and does it go off? It’s not an uncommon question, and it’s one which usually gets a few different answers.

If you believe what the manufacturers tell you, the lifespan of cologne bottles is 24 – 36 months, depending on the brand. It will tell you on the base of your bottle, there’s usually a sticker. The symbol you want to look out for is a bottle outline which is opened, and it will usually state 24m or 36m, signifying 24 or 36 months.

It’s time for another good old scent review! This week I am looking back at 212 VIP Men from Carolina Herrera.

I bought this on the back of 212 SEXY MEN as well as 212 MEN, two previous fragrances from Carolina Herrera. SEXY MEN is my favourite out of the two, it’s more spicy and woody, and I prefer these types of seductive scents. On the back of both of these, I got 212 VIP when it was released, back in 2011.

I have found some stock of Dolce and Gabbana The One Gentleman, it’s back from the dead!

So as you’ll know, Gucci Envy for men is discontinued, and has been for some time, and it’s my favourite all time men’s fragrance. I needed a replacement, and bought a bottle of Floris Santal which I also love, and it does smell very similar. Another similar scent is D&G The One Gentleman, which I owned, but was running low, so bought a large bottle of it.

After getting that bottle, D&G then decided to discontinue that scent too! So, I decided that I wouldn’t open it, since I’d never be able to replace it, and I loved my Floris Santal which I use quite regularly.

But I was browsing around the other day, and I found a shop which for some reason unknown to me, managed to get hold of some stock. They were selling 100ml bottles for only £25, a real bargain for any nice scent, so I got a couple of bottles before it went out of stock and is gone forever.

It’s not too unusual for shops to get stock of discontinued bottles, it has happened before with other scents, but it’s kind of rare. Since it was from a reputable fragrance shop I knew that it would be genuine, and someone, somewhere probably had a lot of fragrances they couldn’t get rid of, maybe even the company themselves, so sold them off.

Whatever the reason, I am happy that I was able to get a bottle, and it does smell really nice. It’s not as good as Gucci Envy for Men or Floris Santal, but it’s the same style and vibe as those two fragrances, and if you’ve smelled it you’ll definitely notice the similarities of the three.

Now that I have 300ml of D&G The One Gentleman (3x 100ml) I can open one of them up! This is a ridiculous and crazy volume of cologne and I’ll probably never run out for the rest of my life, so I am not worried about that any more.

For my latest fragrance review It’s another I got at Christmas 2018 and another I’ve been waiting for, Bvlgari MAN Wood Essence EDP. I am a fan of Bvlgari scents and have owned many, including my favourite, the original Bvlgari MAN, but how does this one stack up?

Gillette has created a new ad, a short film which has been causing some controversy, using their famous tagline, The Best A Man Can Get, and changing it up to The Best A Man Can Be. This is their attempt for ‘men to set a good example for the next generation’, but it has not gone down too well with most. In fact, the YouTube video has over 370k dislikes, in comparison to 100k likes at present.

Many people are outraged by the ad, as for some it seems like they are stereotyping all males, that every man is toxic, using backdrops of what’s been happening in the news in recent times, which has not been very positive for the male gender to put it very lightly.

It goes on to depict and talk about bullying, various negative male stereotypes, sexual harassment, and more.

A new year usually means new scents for me, as it’s one of the easiest things to buy me for Christmas. In the past year I’ve had my eye on two scents which were recently released, one of them being Dolce And Gabbana The One Grey for men.

Grey is the latest in the line of The One scents released from Dolce And Gabbana, following on from the original which was a big hit and Gentleman which was a personal favourite of mine. It comes 10 years after the original, so what’s this one all about?

I have to talk about one a product which I think is fundamental to your grooming regime, it’s something which I’ve mentioned countless times as being my number 1 product for guys, it is post shave balm, otherwise known as aftershave balm.

If there’s one skincare product for guys, this is it! This is the one I use religiously and can’t recommend highly enough, no matter if you love your skincare products or could never imagine using them.

If you’re having your first shave as an older teenager or you’re thinking about switching up your own grooming regime you may be thinking one thing: Which is better, a dry shave or a wet shave?

If you’re totally unfamiliar, a wet shave is with a razor with a blade, whereas a dry shave is done with an electric shaver. There’s plenty of advantages and disadvantages of each which we’ll get into, but if you ask me or plenty of others, they’ll all say the same. A wet shave is better than a dry shave.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each, and you can weigh it up for yourself.

Welcome

Welcome to Michael 84, my blog about men’s fashion and lifestyle. I write about topics which we all love, including style, male grooming, travel, fragrance and tech, as well as the latest trends in menswear. Sharing my passion with clothing, from high street to high end brands.